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<p>This statement to the Latvian Parliament adopted on 30 October 2005, during the ILGA 27th Annual European Conference in Paris</p>

<p>
Saeima of the Republic of Latvia<br />
Jēkaba iela 11<br />
Rīga LV1811<br />LATVIA</p><p><b>Statement of concerns on rising homophobia in Latvia</b></p><p>We, the representatives of more than 200 organizations throughout Europe, meeting in Paris, 26 -30 October 2005, for the 27 <sup>th</sup> ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Association) Annual European Conference, would like to express to the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia our serious concern about the increase of homophobia in Latvia in the past few months. </p><p>Last July the City Council of Riga initially allowed and than banned the first lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride March. The ban was successfully overruled by the court, but the participants of the March experienced an extremely homophobic and aggressive hate campaign initiated by some politicians, Church leaders and various radical organizations.</p><p>Since the Pride March events, some politicians are increasingly using homophobia as a tool for the coming parliamentary elections in 2006. One of the most worrying developments is the constitutional amendment to explicitly define marriage as a union of man and woman which in 26 October 2005 had its first reading at the Latvian Parliament and was approved by the majority of 65 out of 100. </p><p>As clearly stated by Latvia’s First Party to which belong the authors of the constitutional amendment, the sole reason for the amendment is to prevent same-sex couples from a possibility to marry and to ensure that the Latvian state recognises and protects only a union of a man and a woman.</p><p>We would like to remind that by joining the Council of Europe and the European Union, Latvia agreed on the respect of human rights and on the elimination of discrimination, including that based on sexual orientation. These principles have already been upheld twice by the Latvian courts. </p><p>Latvia is already not standing up to its commitments since the Employment Equality Directive, that requires among other things a prohibition of sexual orientation discrimination in employment, has not been fully transposed into national law. </p><p>Furthermore it is extremely worrying that Latvia is now the first European country that plans to write homophobia and discrimination against same-sex partners into its constitution, the country’s basic law.</p><p>Today Latvia does not provide legal recognition for same-sex partners </p><u>in any form</u><p> and same-sex unions are discriminated against in such areas as inheritance, property, pension, tenancy law, just to name a few. </p><p>We urge the Latvian parliamentarians to reconsider their position regarding this constitutional amendment and not allow a homophobic and discriminatory amendment to become part of a democratic country’s constitution. We call upon the Latvian parliamentarians to ensure that LGBT people in Latvia are protected from homophobic hate speech and violence and ensure that same-sex partners enjoy the same respect, dignity and legal protections as the rest of the Latvian society. On behalf of the representatives gathered at ILGA-Europe annual conference,  </p><p><b>Jackie Lewis</b><b>              Riccardo Gottardi</b></p><p><b>Co-chairs of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board</b></p><p> </p>

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